Silky Question

[grubbsgrub]

I hatched a batch my first batch of silkies about a week ago, and now that they are about a half inch long I'm trying to move the little guys out of their petri dish and into their regular box with the plastic canvas. I'm having trouble moving them though.

I've tried putting down fresh strips of food and letting them eat it and then move them, but I can't seem to get them all, and most of the them don't cling to the food whenever I move them. How do you guys get them out of the petri dish?

 

[Chameleons Northwest]

Coastal silkworms recommends (via a label on their petri dish) to simply turn over the dish and dump them into their new container. Their mess will go with them. I tried it and it worked. It didn't seem to hurt them at all. You can then move the stragglers over to the new container using a small soft-bristle paintbrush.

 

[dodolah]

I hatched a batch my first batch of silkies about a week ago, and now that they are about a half inch long I'm trying to move the little guys out of their petri dish and into their regular box with the plastic canvas. I'm having trouble moving them though.

I've tried putting down fresh strips of food and letting them eat it and then move them, but I can't seem to get them all, and most of the them don't cling to the food whenever I move them. How do you guys get them out of the petri dish?

dump them
when they are still small, don't use plastic canvas.
They will fall off from the hole and unable to eat.
wait until 2 weeks old, then use canvas.

 

[lonomac]

I use the flipping method also, but as you said there are stragglers. I use a soft paint brush to brush them down and drop them on the bottom. I find the first two weeks somewhat annoying because they're so small they're easy to kill if you drop food on them or try to grab any of them.

 

[grubbsgrub]

Yea. I always tried to put the food where the silkies aren't lol. My petri dish is pretty well covered. I moved them over, and luckily only about three of the ~250 fell through the cracks. Poor little guys.